Sanctified Saturday: Getting Out of Sideways

Moonrise at sunset near Bouse, AZ

In the Spring, when the nighttime temperatures warm up past 50 degrees or more for several days, the Sidewinder Rattlesnakes come out of hibernation. I’ve only seen a few since we are not down here for long once it gets hot enough. But to watch them in motion is a marvel. How do they move sideways so rapidly? They make it look easy, scooting along leaving a distinctive pattern behind them. How do they know what direction to go and how do they keep going that way?

It brings to mind those times when I have been moving sideways, not going in a forward direction, but lateral, marking time without a clear direction. Did God look down in his love and say “Oh, child, come this way! Come forward! I have so much more for you than this sideways dance, back and forth in place”? I think he must have, because eventually I felt the tug of more, of destiny, of direction and purpose. I felt his love pull me into a place where I connected with his heavenly GPS to guide me into a course correction. Pulled by that loving, bigger-than-life Heavenly Father into his presence, his better ways and purpose, I move in the direction and course he had planned for me all along.

I leave behind the cloudy self-focus, the time-wasting activities, the negative thinking, the circular questioning and step into the identity he created just for me. Now I joyfully dance along the road, sometimes running, sometimes walking quietly in contemplation, always trying to be in step with him, moving forward with purpose. 

He has called me, I have answered with my life.

Sunset near Bouse, AZ, camping with Boondocker BOF